The Gaza health ministry - which is run by Hamas - has reportedly said about 18,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza since the war started on 7 October.

Al Jazeera quotes spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra as saying at least 49,500 others have been injured.

He told the outlet that 297 people had been killed and more than 550 injured over the last 24 hours.

Hamas is a proscribed terror organisation in many countries, including the UK and US. But the UN considers the figures provided by its health ministry to be trustworthy.

Image source, Getty Images

Several regional and international leaders have spoken today at the Doha Forum in Qatar - where the situation in Gaza was the key topic of discussion. Here's some of what was said:

• Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Israel's bombardment of Gaza was "narrowing the window" to secure a new ceasefire. Qatar helped to broker a previous week-long pause in hostilities
• Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh (who does not govern in Gaza, but instead parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control) called for countries to sanction Israel
• UN chief António Guterres says he regretted the UN Security Council's failure to demand a ceasefire in a vote on Friday, adding that the organisation's "authority and credibility were severely undermined". The US opposed the move on behalf of its ally Israel; both argued that it would have benefited Hamas
• Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the "dehumanisation of Palestinians has allowed the international community to bear continued Israeli attacks in Gaza"

Purported surrender footage filmed in one take - but some questions remainpublished at 15:16 Greenwich Mean Time 10 December 2023

15:16 GMT 10 December 2023

There's been speculation about the authenticity of footage filmed by Israeli troops in northern Gaza, after two separate clips emerged in which the same man is seen surrendering a gun - but in each video, he holds it in a different hand. We earlier reported suggestions that separate "takes" of the same incident had been produced.

But analysis by BBC Verify - of both videos and additional still images of the same scene - suggests these are sequential events, not separate takes, and the same man is going to and fro bringing different guns to the pavement with their detached magazines (ammunition).

One video - which we know was shot first because of the position of the sun - shows the man placing a gun from his right hand on top of another on the pavement. In the next video, with the sun lower, the man places a different gun on top of those from his left hand. Still images corroborate and bookend this sequence, with one showing the very first gun being placed, and another showing the resulting three guns and magazines on the pavement.

There are still some questions raised by the footage - notably, the man is at gunpoint following directions, and we can't know whether he was surrendering the weapons or simply following instructions to move them.

The Israeli military did not directly respond when we asked it.

A 22-year-old Palestinian has told the BBC how he was detained with dozens of others by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in northern Gaza on Thursday.

Footage verified by the BBC shows a group of men stripped to their underwear, kneeling on the ground and being guarded by Israeli soldiers.

The man says he was forced to sit in the street for hours, handcuffed and blindfolded, before being driven away.

An Israeli official said the soldiers were searching for Hamas members.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the BBC they were looking for those "responsible for the massacre of 7 October".

The detainees were taken by truck from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to an unknown place, according to the young man - who asked to remain anonymous for his safety.

Once they arrived, they were randomly selected for questioning and interrogated about their relationship with Hamas, he adds.

Read the full article by BBC Arabic here.

This morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin – with Netanyahu saying he wasn’t satisfied with Moscow’s position on the war in Gaza.

Russia backed a resolution to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at the UN Security Council on Friday.

During the phone call, Netanyahu criticised the “dangerous cooperation” between Russia and Iran, and said that any other country which suffered an attack equivalent to the one Israel suffered on 7 October would have reacted with at least the same force.

The Israeli prime minister relayed his appreciation for Moscow's efforts to free Russian dual nationals being held hostage in Gaza.

The Kremlin says Russia is ready to give all possible assistance to de-escalate the conflict, and that Putin “reaffirmed the principle position of rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its forms. "

Image source, Reuters

Israel has denied an accusation from the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that it's been trying to force huge numbers of Gazans into Egypt.

In an opinion piece written in the Los Angeles Times, external, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said this was signalled by the Israeli military telling people in north Gaza to flee south, and people then being pushed even further towards the border with Egypt when fighting in the south intensified.

Lazzarini went on to suggest that if this trend continued, Gaza "will not be a land for Palestinians anymore."

Israel says the accusation is "simply not true". A defence ministry spokesperson told the AFP news agency: "There is not, never was and never will be an Israeli plan to move the residents of Gaza to Egypt."

Separately, Israel has denied a similar claim made by Jordan. The Reuters news agency quotes an official saying it was "outrageous and false" that it had a systematic plan to push Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, here's a look at what's been happening on Sunday - the 65th day of the Israel - Hamas war.

• Israel has ordered civilians to leave the centre of Khan Younis - the main city in southern Gaza, and the place people were told to head from the north when the war started. A senior official says he doesn't want civilians caught in the crossfire during "difficult fighting" there
• The Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says Gaza's health system is "on its knees" and that Israel's actions in the territory are creating "ideal conditions for disease to spread"
• The Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh - who has no control of the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas - has called for countries to sanction Israel for its bombardment of Gaza
• Meanwhile his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused a number of Western leaders of a two-faced attitude to Hamas, saying: “You cannot on the one hand support the elimination of Hamas and on other pressure us to end the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas"
• The UN boss and Qatar - which has been acting as a mediator - have today vowed to keep up efforts to pressurise both sides into a lasting ceasefire
• Questions have been raised about footage circulating on Israeli social media, which appears to show people surrendering to Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza. The Israeli military did not directly address the matter when asked for comment, but BBC Verify has been looking into this in depth, and will have an update for you soon

A short time ago, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said "nowhere and no-one is safe in Gaza" amid the Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

Rushdi Abu Alouf
Reporting from Istanbul

The fear and suffering in Khan Younis is getting greater and greater.

Israeli tanks are advancing from two directions. The people are quite worried because they’ve seen the same situation in Gaza City before the ceasefire. So they believe there will be more suffering.

Last night there was heavy fighting around this area, and people could hear bombing and air strikes. There was also some exchange of fire as Hamas says their militants were fighting the Israelis in that location.

This morning, the Israeli army issued a warning for the people living in the city centre to leave.

They were told to leave west, but the western area has no infrastructure or facilities for people to stay. So most people are staying in tents with very little food and water left in the place, and very little food and water coming from the border of Egypt.

As we've been reporting, Israeli forces are pushing into the centre of Khan Younis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Civilians in the city have been pictured collecting bodies and mourning their loved ones who've been killed in fighting.

Meanwhile, some are fleeing the city to further south to take refuge in Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

Image source, Israel Government Press Office

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Western countries of a two-faced attitude to Hamas - his enemy in Gaza.

“You cannot on the one hand support the elimination of Hamas and on other pressure us to end the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas," he said while briefing his cabinet today. Netanyahu told his colleagues that he said as much to the leaders of France, Germany and "other leaders".

His comments came two days after 13 members of UN Security Council supported a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. The US vetoed the move, while the UK abstained on its vote.

Netanyahu also thanked the US for both the veto and its military aid. On Saturday, the Biden administration used an emergency law to bypass Congress and authorise the sale of some 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m (£85m) to Israel.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says "the impact of the conflict on health is catastrophic", adding that "Gaza's health system is on its knees and collapsing."

Speaking at an event in Geneva, the WHO head says that Israeli actions to force Palestinians into a smaller and smaller area is creating the "ideal conditions for disease to spread."

He says there is just one shower for every 750 people and one toilet for every 150. And "only 14 hospitals out of the original 36 (in the Gaza Strip) are even partially functional”: two in the north and 12 in the south.

The conditions for health workers - which were already very difficult in 2018 - are "impossible and they’re directly in the firing line”, Ghebreyesus says.

And he says the WHO has recorded 449 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank since the start of this conflict on 7 October - and 60 in Israel.

Earlier, we reported that footage had emerged on Israeli social media, which appeared to show people surrendering to Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip.

As our correspondent Paul Adams noted, there were two versions of the same scene - with the same man holding a rifle using a different hand in each - which raised questions about the event's authenticity.

We asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment, which we have provided below.

The statement was also provided in reply to separate allegations from a group of men and boys in Gaza that they were tortured while detained by Israeli soldiers.

Image source, Feras al-Shaer

That BBC interview with Mark Regev mentioned safe zones - which gives us a chance to recap what's been happening in one of these.

As Israel presses its military offensive across Gaza, it's has been repeatedly advising some two million civilians to move to a "humanitarian zone", al-Mawasi. It's just 8.5 sq km (3.3 sq miles), which is smaller than London's Heathrow Airport.

Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of land by the Mediterranean Sea. It has few buildings and largely consists of sandy dunes and agricultural land.

Reem Abd Rabu has spent weeks sleeping on the ground and sharing a tent with four other families in the area of al-Mawasi, thinking it would be safe from the intense bombardment and fighting.

But she found little to no basic services when she arrived. Reem told the BBC al-Mawasi was an abandoned place, "not a place for human beings".

• You can read the whole story by BBC Verify and BBC Arabic here

An Israeli official has been questioned by BBC News about the Israeli military directive to people in Khan Younis to leave the city centre - and about mounting civilian casualties.

"Any civilian killed unnecessarily, that's a tragedy and shouldn't happen," says Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"That's why we have urged civilians in central Khan Younis today: 'Please, there's going to be difficult fighting there. Please leave the area, move to safer zones, get out of harm's way. We don't want to see you caught up in crossfire between us and the Hamas gunmen.'"

When asked about the situation in what Israel calls safe areas, Regev says his country has made a maximum effort to try to safeguard the civilian lives.

Reminded that civilians have been hugely affected by the war, and asked when the conflict is expected to end, Regev says: "This could end tomorrow if we see more Hamas people surrendering, and if they release all the hostages."

Image source, Getty Images

Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh has called for countries to sanction Israel for its bombardment of Gaza.

Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar - alongside others quoted in our recent coverage - Shtayyeh said: “Israel should not be allowed to keep violating international humanitarian law."

“Our main concern is not the day after,” he said, in comments quoted by Al-Jazeera. “It is today. We want the stop of atrocities and genocide that (are) happening today.”

Shtayyeh also urged the UN “to say that this occupation that was started 75 years ago must end”.

Shtayyeh represents the Palestinian Authority (PA) - which is separate to the Hamas government operating in Gaza. The PA governs parts of the West Bank that are not under full Israeli control.

Image source, EPA

“Dehumanisation of Palestinians has allowed the international community to bear continued Israeli attacks in Gaza,” says Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Lazzarini joins those issuing fresh calls for a ceasefire - saying this is vital to end the “hell on earth” in Gaza. He says the agency is on the verge of collapsing.

“By any description, it is definitely the worst situation I have ever seen,” Lazzarini added.

There are more lines to bring you from Qatar - but first, a look at the latest scenes in southern Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Qatar’s prime minister says his country will continue efforts to pressure Israel and Hamas into a truce “despite narrowing chances”.

A recent week-long pause in fighting saw the release of dozens of hostages taken from Israel and Palestinian prisoners - under a deal mediated by Qatar.

Speaking at the Doha Forum today, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said the hostages were released from Gaza thanks to negotiations, not as a result of Israeli military actions.

He added that mediation efforts were continuing despite continued Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which was "narrowing the window" for a successful outcome. But “we are not going to give up," al-Thani said.

Image source, EPA

UN chief António Guterres says he regrets the UN Security Council's failure to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip - saying the organisation has been "paralysed".

Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Guterres says the body's "authority and credibility were severely undermined". But he added: "I can promise, I will not give up."

On Friday, the US vetoed the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza - saying such a move would have been dangerous and unrealistic.

The vote was brought about after Guterres deployed the rarely-used Article 99 of the UN charter to bring to the council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security". He had explained: "We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system."